The most disturbing shot of a Tufted Titmouse you have ever seen

Thank you, auto-focus, for completely blurring the Black-capped Chickadee I was attempting to photograph. Were you trying to send me a message? Were you trying to warn me of the true demonic intent of the chickadee's Tufted Titmouse ally? The bird looks as though it is planning - and capable of - world domination.

I only noticed this shot when I downloaded pics from my camera today hoping that I would have got a lovely one of the Red-throated Loon I saw at the Connecticut Audubon's Coastal Center at Milford Point this afternoon.

But I had only photos that frustratingly could never quite capture the beauty of the bird or the late afternoon autumn light.

The whole idea was to find a stunning image because today I didn't have much time for writing. I spent most of it down at the Coastal Center learning about the impact of two amazing people, Noble Proctor (astonishing naturalist, professor, author) and Helen Hays (force of nature, chairwoman of the Great Gull Island Project). A celebration was held for them, and it was beautiful to see how they had changed the lives of everyone they have taught and inspired, from ages 17 to 100. One of the things I love about the birding community is the tradition of mentoring and of having respect for those who have so much to teach us about the natural world.

The sun set over the marsh seemed especially vivid in their honor . . .

How to make Osprey-themed party decorations with your cat

Next Saturday is the Connecticut Audubon Society Coastal Center at Milford Point's fundraising party to welcome back the Osprey who have returned this spring, as they have for many years, to nest at the marsh. The webcam shows they laid their second egg this week.

So I'm making tissue-paper pom-poms for the party. I am not crafty. I can knit a scarf, in a pretty remedial fashion, and that's all. But there is nothing that can't be learned on YouTube from actual crafty people. I went on there and learned how to make big tissue-paper pom-poms, and I'm planning on doing them in a chocolate-and-white theme to match the color of the Osprey. I settled down to the job this afternoon with Mink, my Burmese cat. I suggest that everyone who is thinking of making Osprey-themed party decorations do so with their cat. It doesn't have to be a Burmese cat, but it helps.

Step 1. Make sure your cat is lying in the sun, because why will she interfere with you when she could just lie in the sun?

Step 2. Lay out 10 sheets of tissue paper.

Step 3. Get the cat off the stack of tissue paper. Have fun with that.

Step 4. Make 1-inch concertina-style folds in the paper.

Your cat will be utterly uninterested in this, as it is the boring "work" part of the task.

Step 5. Tie florist wire around the middle of the concertinaed tissue paper.

Step 6. Be sure to get the florist wire away from the cat before she tries to eat it. A trip to Party City for chocolate-brown cocktail napkins on a Sunday morning is quite fun. A trip to that emergency vet clinic in New Haven where no matter what has happened to your pet, the bill always seems to be around $1800 is not.

Step 7. Cut the ends of the paper in whatever shape you like. I went for a sharp point so that the end result is a bit like a chrysanthemum. This will be too, too tedious for the cat, as what trouble can she get into with a few scraps of tissue paper? Pfft.

Spiky end that I cut into my pom pom.

Step 8. Very carefully tease apart each layer of tissue paper. Tissue paper rips, people. I speak from hard-won
personal experience.

Your cat will really, really want to help with this bit.

Step 9. Sit back and admire the results of your labor. Have a cup of tea, or some kibble.

Connecticut folks, tickets are still available for the Return of the Osprey party, on Saturday, April 21 at 5:30 p.m. Just call Louise Crocco at 203-878-7440 or email her at lcrocco@ctaudubon.org. Not only will there be feasting and the drinking of fine wines, and the holding of silent auctions, there will Osprey-themed pom poms. I may even have gone on YouTube by then to work out a fancy way to fold napkins!

The Big Sit 2010

I am that annoying person in a group of birders who is always wandering off. I see an especially plump clump of moss to take a closer look at, or a cloud in the shape of a skull and crossbones, and off I drift. So even in the unlikely event that I was ever good enough at identifying birds, I could never do The Big Sit, an entire day of identifying as many species as possible from within a circle 17 feet in diameter (5 metres). I could maybe do The Big 20 Minutes.

These guys, The Surf Scopers, are just incredible as far as I'm concerned. From 4.30 in the morning till about 8:00 at night they stood on this platform at Milford Point, looking out across Long Island Sound on one side and the Wheeler Salt Marsh on the other. They saw the sun come up and go down, and two low tides. And they saw an amazing 107 species of birds, breaking their previous record of 101.

The Surf Scopers: From left, Frank Mantlik, Frank Gallo, Tina Green, Patrick Dugan, Jim Dugan. Thanks to pledges by sponsors, their Big Sit efforts support the Connecticut Audubon Society's Coastal Center at Milford Point. 

I took this shot of them when I went down to visit them late in the day. Who else but birders equipped with fine optic devices would still be cheery after standing all day shoulder-to-shoulder like this on a tiny platform? Maybe Tibetan monks, but really, who else? Birding is so utterly addictive. When will the next bird appear? Where? What will it be? By the end, when the sun had gone down and the scopes had been packed away, I found it hard to walk away from the platform, imagining phantom owls calling in the darkness.

New life, and death ... and White-tailed Kite pictures

It always seems to happen, and yet it always seems to surprise me, that when I fail to see what I set out to see, I experience something wonderful. 

The White-tailed Kite that surprised everyone by suddenly showing up in coastal Connecticut, at least a thousand miles from its home, has been hanging around now for a couple of days. I want to see its wings slicing through the air again, see it hovering looking for prey, so this evening I went down to Milford Point, where it had spent much of the day. By the time I got there, the tide had risen and the bird had flown from the sandbar where it had previously been sitting eating some small creature.

There was no rare bird, but there was the sky. There was green grass growing in the salt water. Terns, plovers, American Oystercatchers.

I walked by the water's edge, and came upon a black blob. Just a starling, I thought. But hang on, there was something different. I put up my binoculars. It was fuzzy -- oh, a chick on gawkily long legs. I sunk down on my knees on the sand, and this black fluffy chick came right up to me and walked by. I don't think it was even aware I was there.

It was a clapper rail, Frank tells me, who's glad to discover that they're breeding at Milford Point. It's not a rare bird, but there was something about being there on the sand, just me and this little chick, that was just as special as seeing that glorious White-tailed Kite.

Looking at this vulnerable chick exposed on the beach, life seemed more fragile and beautiful than ever. That seems -- I can't quite find the word . . . pathetic? -- now that I've just learned that today in a different Connecticut town nine people lost their lives in another workplace shooting. But this was before my stomach had sunk at that news. Then, I was simply relieved when that chick scuttled on those stilt legs up into the long grass, where it was hidden from view, though still cheeping cheeping cheeping.

More White-tailed Kite Pics

Because I, along with every birder in New England, am still quite obsessed with the White-tailed Kite, I am savoring some more pictures that Frank Gallo took...

The Day of the White-tailed Kite

I just circled today's date in the calendar and named it The Day of the White-tailed Kite. This truly amazing bird was spotted at least a thousand miles from home, in Stratford Point -- the first documented sighting in Connecticut, and one of the only times it's been seen in all of New England. Who knows how or why this bird arrived, or how long it will stay -- it's normally found in Florida and the Gulf states, or on the West Coast and in some Southwestern states. It perched in a tree in the meadow, flew sorties around the point, and hovered searching for mammal snacks, looking to my eyes like some kind of predator angel.

These photos are by Frank Gallo, director of the Connecticut Audubon Society's Coastal Center at Milford Point -- a man who runs like the wind when there is a rare bird to be snapped.

The calls went out, the crowd soon gathered.